Pepsi, Intel commercials prove less than super during Bowl

For the first time in recent memory, the commercials Sunday night were not as interesting as the Super Bowl. With John Elway leading the Denver Broncos to the AFC's first Super Bowl victory in 14 tries, the commercials just seemed secondary. There was no clear winner in the biggest four hours of the advertisement year.

If a winner had to be chosen by default, the prize would go to Anheiser-Busch, the makers of Budweiser. The four installments of the "Death of the Frogs," were the highlight of the evening. The gangster iguana's attempt to assassinate of the frogs failed when he hired a ferret to do a weasel's job.

Intel premiered a new interactive ad campaign featuring a mysterious theft and the funky "Bunny People."

Anheiser-Busch also scored with two Bud Light ads. One commercial featured a man sitting in a department store, bored out of his mind while his girlfriend tries on numerous dresses. He hears someone signaling from the petite rack. When he enters he finds himself in an entertainment Mecca complete with TV, grill and loungers.

The other featured a man with a chicken. The man walks up to another man playing pool and bets the pool player a Bud Light that his chicken can beat him in a pool game. The chicken begins shooting eggs out of its body in a hilarious manner. The chicken wins and is next seen at a bowling alley attempting to hustle a bowler out of his Bud Light. The commercial ends as the chicken loudly squawks, anticipating the sheer force required to knock down the pins.

Other highlights included a hilarious spin on the Nike "I Can" campaign. The ad featured the cast of NBC's "Working" performing acts of office mischief with subtitles such as "I Can ... photocopy my face," appearing under the action.

Maybe the clever advertising will save the struggling comedy. If the advertising is indicative of the writing on the show, the show has hope.

A long-awaited three-quel was the next in a series of claymation Lipton Brisk Iced Tea ads. The first was a hilarious take on the living legend, Frank Sinatra. The follow-up was a perfectly voiced "Rocky" commercial.

In each, our hero is bereft of energy, until he consumes Brisk Iced Tea. The latest spot featured no less than six Yankees, past and present. Babe Ruth is our hero this time; the audience knows he is out of energy when he is so tired that the bat slips out of his hands and nearly decapitates a whining George Steinbrenner. Reggie Jackson saves the day when he gives Ruth an iced tea. Ruth smacks a homer and utters the catch phrase: "That's Brisk Baby!"

The tube was cluttered with numerous below average Pepsi ads, the worst one featured a mosquito singing The Rolling Stones hit "Brown Sugar." It was no match for the oldie-but-goodie Tabasco ad featuring an exploding mosquito who snacks on a man after he eats a Tabasco heavy dinner.

Another lackluster spot featured the space-suited Intel "Bunny People" and the voice of Steve Martin in an interactive whodunit, which offered viewers the chance to identify the culprit online. But the ad didn't offer any sort of entertainment value.

Even though the night featured two failed celebrity ads (one with Michael Richards and Elvis - guess he's not dead), overall, the night was a success. With no clear-cut commercial standouts, it was not a great night for advertisers, but a great night for football fans.

01-27-98